By Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star)
Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes disclosed yesterday that former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo could face life imprisonment if they are convicted of rigging the 2007 elections in Maguindanao.
Brillantes said tampering with the results of the 2007 polls and other elections thereafter constitutes electoral sabotage under Republic Act 9369 or the Poll Automation Law.
“If you look at the magnitude of votes involved, it is definitely tantamount to electoral sabotage. The (14) election officers (EOs) that we presented could prove there were irregularities that took place in the 2007 elections there. That’s a lot of votes,“ he said.
The joint investigating panel of the Comelec and the Department of Justice (DOJ) had presented the other day 14 EOs and one Computerized Voter’s List technician from 15 towns in Maguindanao who have issued separate affidavits that they canvassed election returns (ERs) that were pre-prepared.
The results of the canvassing had posted a 12-0 win in favor of the senatorial candidates of Mrs. Arroyo’s Team Unity (TU) administration slate.
Brillantes added that there are 22 municipalities in Maguindanao and other EOs are also willing to testify that there was rampant poll cheating in the province in 2007.
The Comelec-DOJ panel had also presented former Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas who “categorically and directly linked the Arroyo couple to the manipulation of the province’s elections to gain a 12-0 victory for the TU senatorial bets.”
Unas claimed that the Arroyos had instructed former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., for whom he worked from 2001 to 2009, to make the candidates win.
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